


summer lovin'

by intertwiningwords



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: AU, Bisexual Ginny Weasley, F/F, Lesbian Cho Chang, Meeting, Multi, Mutual Pining, Non magic AU, Pansexual Luna Lovegood, Pining, beach
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-08-09
Updated: 2018-08-09
Packaged: 2019-06-24 13:18:08
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,412
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15631455
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/intertwiningwords/pseuds/intertwiningwords
Summary: au. cho, luna, & ginny all work at the same beach club for a summer and grow closer than they ever intended.





	summer lovin'

**Author's Note:**

> two nets on tumblr (hptriadsnet & polypotterpairs) are doing a summer challenge which i decided to write this fic for! hope you all enjoy! x

Luna had always loved the summer. The smell of a bonfire. Being barefoot, running across the sand, collecting seashells. Ice lollies dripping down her fingers and chin, sticky and sweet. Her mother’s sundresses twirling in the garden before she passed away; all the dresses still hung in the closet her father refused to empty out, even after seven years.

Without her mother’s presence, summer was less sunny. Her father didn’t garden anymore. As she grew older, he stopped buying ice lollies. Her favorite season quickly became her least favorite, stuck up in her room, sweating, sketching the same view from her window over and over.

And at sixteen, her father insisted she get a job to ‘keep her busy’ during the long summer days.

So she started working at the local beach, selling the same ices she had once let dye her tongue like the rainbow to children that she hoped would stay children longer than she had.

She rode her bike to work, sunglasses perched upon her nose, her dirty blonde curls pulled up into a slightly rushed milkmaid braid, a few strands falling out and framing her face. She hummed a random tune, probably the jingle from some commercial she couldn’t place.

The familiar smell of the ocean washed over her as she parked her bike. Just another day.

 

***

 

Freckles sprang up on Ginny’s skin more and more with every summer day. Her fire-red hair mellowed to a subtle orangey color, bleached by the sun. And her mother begged and pleaded for her children to put on more sunscreen. The stereotype of gingers burning easily did not seem to affect the Weasley family; they all tanned but rarely burned, not since they were younger at least.

Ginny’s high-waisted shorts and cropped shirts got her twice as many catcalls as she received in the winter, covered head to toe in leggings and boots and hoodies. She ignored them, her music blasting in her ears on her way to work at the beach.

Despite her family’s economic state, her parents never touched a cent of her money, because she earned it. While most kids stole money from their mother’s purse, Ginny was sneaking her extra tips into hers.

She would probably work at the beach for free if she had to. She loved to be outside, and the heat reminded her of picnics with her family in the yard, catching fireflies and eating smores, wrestling her brothers for the last of the marshmallows on the grass.

Sure, she came home with sand in her shoes and smelling of sunscreen, but it was a price she was willing to pay.

 

***

 

Summer never held any special memories for Cho. Sure, she had gone on many vacations with her family, but this summer held nothing but work in the foreseeable future. 

Black hair pulled up in a messy bun, she grabbed her keys and a cold bottle of water from the kitchen before getting in her car, immediately turning the air conditioning on at full blast. Her phone began to play her Spotify summer playlist, which mostly consisted of cheesy pop songs.

Her blue-painted fingernails drummed against the steering wheel to the beat of a Dua Lipa song as she drove to the beach, dreading the shift in the hot sun that awaited her.

Her parents wanted her to learn some more responsibility and get a “real” job because doing art commissions on Tumblr wasn’t real enough for them. Sure, it didn’t earn her much, but she bought her own groceries and gas. She was only seventeen, and an only child of a decently wealthy family.

Perhaps it was good they didn’t want her to just live off them forever, push her out into the real world. But the beach club was not what she’d had in mind. Fast food maybe, but no. She was stuck outside in the blazing heat, her car was full of sand, and the back of her neck was permanently sweating, even with her hair up.

She’d find a way to survive it, surely.

 

***

 

Three girls with such different reasons for being there, such different feelings towards being there never expected to become so close.

But late shifts spent cleaning up the glass alcohol bottles buried in the sand, kicking teenagers who stunk of weed off the lifeguard posts, funnily enough, was what brought them together.

“At least the sun is starting to go down,” Cho said. “It’s supposed to cool down tonight.”

“And then it’s supposed to be disgustingly hot tomorrow,” Ginny replied. “Oh, Mother Nature, what did we ever do to you?”

“Cut down her trees, put pesticides on her crops, litter…” Luna began to list, ticking them off with her fingers.

Ginny laughed. “Very true, I take it back. We deserve global warming.”

And they all shared a chuckle at that before scrambling to finish their work.

“If either of you needs a ride home, I can take you,” Cho offered as they were leaving.

“That’s okay, I have my bike,” Luna replied. “Thank you though! See you guys tomorrow,” she said cheerily before heading off.

“My brother is coming to get me,” Ginny said. “But next time, I’ll take you up on that offer!”

“Have a good night,” Cho said with a smile.

“You too, Cho.”

And Cho walked off, leaving Ginny to text Bill a ‘where are you??’, only for him to reply ‘out with fleur, why?’.

She groaned. Of course, he’d forgotten. Charlie was away with work, she wouldn’t ask Percy for a ride if it was hailing out, and she didn’t trust Fred and George behind a wheel.

“Hey, Cho?” she called, running out of the office.

Cho turned. “Yeah?”

“My brother kinda bailed on me...do you mind?”

“Not at all!”

Ginny jogged to catch up to her. “Thanks! I normally wouldn’t mind walking but the later it gets the more I get kinda anxious about it.”

“I totally get it. I’d never let you walk alone at night,” Cho said. “So, where to?”

And Ginny directed her to her house, suddenly feeling flustered as they pulled up to the old, small house. And then guilt followed her shame because she knew she was luckier than others. And Cho was sweet; she likely wasn’t judging.

“Thanks for the ride,” Ginny said, touching her arm softly. “See you tomorrow!”

“Bye!” Cho replied, the place Ginny had touched tingling. She drove home to the sounds of love songs.

 

***

 

“Don’t you dare, Dean!” Ginny was saying, holding her hands up in front of her face as Dean Thomas, one of the boys they worked with, held up a water balloon.

Needless to say, Dean didn’t listen, throwing it right at Ginny’s feet and laughing as it splashed over her legs and stomach.

“You ass!” she cried, grabbing a balloon of her own and hurling it straight at Dean’s head.

Laughter erupted amongst the workers as a full on water balloon fight emerged, Cho shrieking as Hannah Abbott threw one at her.

“It’s freezing!” she whined.

“It’ll cool you down then,” Luna said cheerfully, a mischievous twinkle in her grey-blue eyes.

“Luna, don’t-”

Needless to say, the three girls were soaked by the end of their shifts.\

“We should have made this into a wet t-shirt contest,” Ginny joked, looking down at her chest. Her maroon bralette was perfectly visible through her white staff shirt, and she seemed completely unfazed by the fact, sporting it almost proudly.

Cho averted her eyes with a blush.

“You certainly would have won,” Luna said, looking down at her own top. “My legs are wetter than my top half.” She gestured to the drops of water clinging to her pale thighs, then to the wet patch on her shorts. “Theo made it look like I wet myself!”

Cho forced out a laugh at that because it was totally true.

It was going to be a long summer of trying to remain un-attracted to her coworkers.

 

***

 

“Look how pretty this shell is!” Luna said, opening her hand to reveal a blue shell sitting on her palm, still a little sandy and glistening with water.

“It’s beautiful,” Cho replied. “Normally at the ones I find are broken.”

“When I was little, my mom and I would use them in a bunch of crafts. Usually jewelry, but we would fill up mason jars with them and date them for every beach trip we took.”

“That’s sweet.”

Luna looked off almost wistfully for a moment. “Yeah. It was.”

And before Cho could ask if she was alright, she was being called away to run the umbrella stand.

 

***

 

Luna collected many more shells in the next few days, slipping them into her bag.

Ginny would help her look sometimes, but Cho didn’t like going down by the shore. There were too many bugs and the sand was gross and wet and seaweed always got caught around her ankles and scared the shit out of her.

 

***

 

Rainy days meant the beach was closed.

“If you guys want to hang out, I can pick you up and take us into town or something!” Cho offered. “It’ll be nice to hang out with you two outside of work.”

“That sounds awesome! I’ll have to make sure my mom doesn’t need me around, but I’ll text you when I know,” Ginny replied.

“I’d love to,” Luna said. “Ooh, we can try the new ice cream place they opened! I heard they have crazy flavors.”

Cho grinned. “It’s a date.” And although she was the one that said it, it made her cheeks go a little pink.

As the weather predicted, Cho woke up to the sound of rain splattering down on her roof. A text from Ginny confirmed their plans, and she got up, pulling on a pair of white shorts and digging in her drawers for a specific top. A blue, strapless top with a flowy layer of lace hanging from the neckline. That along with a silver necklace she usually only wore on special occasions, and her white converse, and a bit of concealer under her eyes and some mascara, she was ready to go. She went to work makeupless most days, so it wasn’t like she had anything to hide from either girl.

Ginny had been awake since seven that morning, helping her mom make breakfast. She liked cooking with her mother, and she knew she could use the extra hands.

“So, how’s work been?” Mrs. Weasley asked.

“Good,” Ginny replied. “I really like it.”

“Make any friends?”

“Well, Luna from down the street works there! So we’ve started talking again,” Ginny replied, shoving some bread into the toaster.

“Oh, Luna? What a sweet girl, especially after all she’s been through-” Mrs. Weasley began to gush.

“She is sweet,” Ginny said, cutting her off. “And this other girl Cho is really cool too. The three of us were gonna go into town today. Is that alright?”

“Of course! I’ll get Ronald to help me with the gardening. He’s been out with Harry and Hermione almost every day this summer. He needs some quality time with his mother, don’t you think?”

“Of course,” Ginny replied with a grin. “Then again, he can always bring Harry and Hermione here, so you’ll have two more people to slave away outside.”

“You really are my daughter,” Mrs. Weasley laughed, putting a hand on Ginny’s cheek. “I can finish up breakfast, go get ready!”

Ginny leaned over and kissed her mom on the cheek before running up the stairs. A pair of ripped jean shorts and a yellow t-shirt, yellow socks, and her sneakers, plus a bit of eyeliner and mascara. The finishing touch was a nude-colored lipstick Hermione had given her once because it was “too light” to use herself.

Her hair was going to be frizzy no matter what she tried, so she pulled it back in a tight ponytail, checking herself out in her mirror and phone camera for a bit before deciding she was satisfied.

“Ooh, Ginny is going on a date!” George teased as she came down the stairs.

She flipped him off, and Mrs. Weasley gasped.

“Ginny!”

“Sorry mom,” she replied innocently. “And for your information, I’m not going on a date. I’m getting ice cream with two girls from my job.”

“Oh, so it’s a threesome!” Fred said, earning him a smack on the back of the head from Mrs. Weasley.

“Don’t worry, Gin, we all saw you being a lesbian from miles away,” George said, ducking just in case that prompted their mother to reprimand him as well.

“I’m not a lesbian, I’m bisexual, you politically incorrect idiots,” Ginny huffed. “And they’re just friends. So shut up and eat your damn eggs.”

“Yes ma’am!” the twins said in unison.

As annoying as they were, Ginny couldn’t help but smile.

Luna spent her morning drawing people from work, off memory. Dean Thomas with his curls and bright smile. Hannah Abbott’s chubby cheeks. Theo’s broad shoulders.

Cho’s smile. Cho’s eyes. Cho’s hair.

Ginny’s hair. Ginny’s eyes. Ginny’s smile.

She got lost in her sketchpad until her phone buzzed, alerting her that Cho was on her way over.

Mumbling a curse beneath her breath, Luna jumped up and dug around in her closet for a dress covered in sunflowers, slipping on her brown sandals. A simple bun would have to do, as she shoved her wallet and some chapstick into a brown bag to throw over her shoulder.

 

***

 

“You guys can skip around on my playlist,” Cho said. “I have pretty basic music taste.”

Ginny scrolled through it from the passenger’s seat, and Luna peered over her shoulder from the back.

And soon Hayley Kiyoko came spilling from the speakers, and Cho perked up. “You listen to Hayley Kiyoko?”

“Of course,” Ginny said.   
“How could we not know lesbian Jesus?” Luna added.

And they all laughed, singing along to  _ Curious _ and  _ Sleepover _ and  _ Girls Like Girls _ before they got to the ice cream shop.

“I mean, she’s a beautiful and talented Asian-American lesbian woman,” Cho said. “How could I  _ not _ love her?”

“She’s literally so beautiful,” Ginny said.

“We stan a gay icon,” Luna said, making them all burst into giggles.

They went into the store, gazing around at the signs listing all the flavors.

“Oh, I want black cherry cheesecake,” Ginny said. “I don’t even need to read the rest.”

And she strolled right up to the counter and ordered a small, rummaging in her wallet for exact change.

Cho got a medium rainbow cookie, and Luna got a large graham cracker, and they went and sat at a table in the corner. Ginny sat criss-cross in her chair, while Luna dangled her feet over the armrest, and Cho pulled her knees up to her chest (Cho never believed in the ‘gay people can’t sit in chairs right’ meme until that very moment).

“That looks really good,” Luna said, pointing at Ginny’s. “Can I try some?”

Ginny nodded, her mouth full, and held her spoon out to Luna, who licked some off and smiled.

“Thanks. It is good.”

“Can I try yours?” Ginny asked.

Luna held out her spoon, and Ginny had some of hers. “It tastes exactly like a real graham cracker and it’s freaking me out,” Ginny said, furrowing her brows. “Ugh, I just got the most intense flashbacks to my childhood.”

“You want some Cho?” Luna asked.

Cho, who had been too busy staring between the two of them, snapped out of her trance. “Oh, uh, sure!”

She knew she should have closed her eyes to make it less awkward, but she somehow managed to keep perfect eye contact with Luna as she was spoon fed, her cheeks going pink.

“It...yeah, it does taste like actual graham crackers,” she laughed.

Then she tried Ginny’s, and they both tried hers. It just felt too normal, to feed each other like that. Cho, who was normally quite the germaphobe, had no problem sharing spoons with them.

The ice cream was followed by a relatively unsuccessful thrift-shop run, but Luna did find some earrings she insisted on buying.

They looked beautiful on her.

 

***

 

As July came to an end, for once in her life, Cho didn’t want summer to be over so quickly.

She loved seeing Ginny and Luna every day, loved watching them spray each other with water guns and fall over themselves laughing. She loved driving them each home after work, watching Luna’s hair fall down her back as she walked up to her porch, loved the way Ginny propped her feet up on the dashboard and pointed out the dogs walking outside the window.

“You alright?” Theo asked beside her.

“Huh?” she asked, forced out of her thoughts. “Yeah, I’m fine, sorry. Just thinking.”

“Anything you wanna talk about?” he asked, raising an eyebrow.

She shrugged. “Is it possible to be in love with two people at once?” she asked before she could stop herself. It wasn’t like her and Theo were close, but she also didn’t know who else to ask.

“Absolutely,” Theo replied faster than she’d expect. “Haven’t you ever heard of polyamory?”

She shook her head.

“It’s when you date more than one person, but with all parties being aware and consenting, so it’s not like cheating,” Theo explained. “It’s obviously frowned upon by a lot of people, but it’s slowly getting more recognition.”

“How do you know this stuff?” she asked.

“I’m president of my school’s GSA, I have to keep up to date with all the identities and shit,” he shrugged. “One of my friends is poly.”

“I wish my school had a GSA,” Cho said.

“Are you-?”

“I’m a lesbian,” she answered before he even finished asking.

“Sorry for prying, I just didn’t know,” he said. “As you probably knew already, I’m gay as shit.”

She laughed. “Thanks for the lesson, GSA president.”

“Any time, Chang.”

 

***

 

Luna invited them to her house one night when her father was away on business.

“Is this your mother?” Cho asked, pointing to a photo on the mantle. It was a beautiful blonde woman in a blue sundress, the skirt spinning. The photo had obviously been taken while she was mid-twirl, a look of pure happiness on her face.

“Yes,” Luna said. “I don’t really talk about it much, but she died when I was nine.”

“I’m sorry,” Cho said.

Luna just gave her a soft smile. “Don’t apologize.”

And the three of them headed up to Luna’s room, decorated from ceiling to floor with knickknacks and art and pictures.

“I have something for you both,” she said. “Close your eyes.”

So Cho and Ginny did.

“You can open them now,” she said after a moment.

And they did.

Two mason jars sat before them, full of blue and orange and white and black shells. Cho’s had a blue ribbon tied around the top, and a little card hanging off the side. Ginny’s was almost identical, though her ribbon was yellow.

“I tried to match the shells to each of you, so Cho has more of the blue and white ones, while Ginny has the orange ones,” Luna said almost shyly.

“So this is why you were so obsessed with bringing shells home,” Ginny laughed, picking her's up and examining it with a smile. “This is so cute!”

“And I have one too,” Luna said, pointing over at the shelf where another jar sat, at the front of a group of similar shell-filled containers.

“This is so sweet,” Cho said softly, running her fingers over the grooves in the glass. “I love it,” she added, meeting Luna’s eyes.

That night, the three of them fell asleep in Luna’s bed, limbs tangled together despite the heat.

 

***

 

Late nights at the beach, stripping to their swimsuits and running out into the water. Standing with their toes in the sand, laughing as the cold waves hit their knees. Splashing one another, sitting on the rocks.

“This has been the best summer ever,” Cho said softly, her head resting on Ginny’s shoulder, running her thumb over Luna’s knuckles.

“I don’t want it to end,” Ginny replied, pulling her towel around herself tighter. It wasn’t cold, so it may have just been for the comfort.

Luna hummed softly. “Well now we can just make this the best autumn ever,” she said, kicking her feet which still dangled just above the water.

And the best winter, and spring after that.

And hopefully longer than that.

  
  
  
  
  


**Author's Note:**

> hope you enjoyed, thanks for reading! feedback is always appreciated in the form of comments or kudos. you can make a writer's day with one click!
> 
> tumblr: intertwiningwords.tumblr.com


End file.
